No Reason to Favor Private Health Insurers by Joel S. Hirschhorn

by Joel S. Hirschhorn
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.foavc.org
24 June 2009

In the national debate about health care reform absolutely nothing makes less sense than the positive views of much of the public about private health insurers.  There is no good reason to have positive views of private health insurers, the companies that have relentlessly increased the costs for very limited health insurance.  Copays, deductibles and premiums have raped those lucky enough to have health insurance while also making it very difficult much of the time to get coverage for all kinds of health problems.  The US health care system is unbelievably inefficient, providing far less effective health care for what is incredibly high costs, compared to all other industrialized countries.  The main reason is the private health insurance industry.

If you need solid information to believe this view, then consider these facts.

Ignorance is Strength By Paul Craig Roberts

Dandelion Salad

By Paul Craig Roberts
June 24, 2009 “Information Clearing House”

The American media’s one-sided and propagandistic coverage of the Iranian election has made an American hero out of the defeated candidate, Mousavi.

This leaves one wondering if anyone anywhere in the US media or US government knows that Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who served as prime minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1981 to 1989, the decade following the overthrow of the American puppet government by Khomeini, has been fingered as the Butcher of Beirut, responsible for the bloody attacks on the US embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut during the Reagan administration that blew to pieces 241 US Marines, Sailors, and Army troops.

According to Jeff Stein writing in the June 22, 2009, CQ Politics, Mousavi “personally selected his point man for the Beirut terror campaign, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi-pur,” who presided over the terror cell responsible for the attacks.

Woman On Fire Asked If It’s A Pre-Existing Condition (satire)

Dandelion Salad

Also titled, “Those G-d Damn Socialist Fire Fighters!”

leecamp
June 24, 2009

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Woman On Fire Asked If It’s A Pre-Exi…“, posted with vodpod

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Health Care Reform Legislation Markup, Day 4

Healthcare Hypocrisy + Tell ABC to Ask Obama Why Isn’t Single Payer on the Table? (updated)

Why Did It Take So Long To Order The Release From Guantánamo Of An Al-Qaeda Torture Victim? by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
24 June 2009

In over three years of researching and reporting about the prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, I learned early on to expect, as one of Guantánamo’s first commanders, Maj. Gen. Michael Dunlavey explained, that many of the men were “Mickey Mouse” prisoners, with no connection to terrorism whatsoever, and, in hundreds of cases, not even a tangential involvement in the Taliban’s inter-Muslim civil war with Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, which preceded the 9/11 attacks, but morphed into a war against the US after “Operation Enduring Freedom” — the US-led invasion of Afghanistan — began on October 7, 2001.

I learned about how the wrong people had ended up in Guantánamo not just from Maj. Gen. Dunlavey, but also from a former interrogator at the US prisons in Kandahar and Bagram, which were used to process the prisoners for Guantánamo. Using the pseudonym Chris Mackey, he wrote a book about his experiences, The Interrogators, in which he explained that the military commanders on the ground in Afghanistan received instructions from the highest levels of government that every Arab who ended up in US custody was to be transferred to Guantánamo, even if those on the front line had concluded that they had been seized by mistake.

Like Killing Flies by Bruce Gagnon

by Bruce Gagnon
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Organizing Notes
June 24, 2009

My letter to the editor was published in our local paper, The Times Record, today. Just as I was posting this I learned about US drones killing another 45-50 people in Pakistan as they were attending a funeral of people who had recently been killed by these Unmanned Aerial Vehciles (UAV’s). Click here for the BBC story. This situation is totally out of hand and Obama has to take responsibility. That is, if the peace movement, has the courage to call him on it.

Dear Editor:

The national media made a big deal about President Obama killing a fly. His “I got the sucker” was even compared to a similar moment by honest Abe Lincoln.

Iran Election Questions: Noam Chomsky’s Speculation

Dandelion Salad

representativepress
June 23, 2009

Here are two short clips I edited and transcribed of Noam Chomsky answering questions about the Iranian elections.
Iranian People Speak:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/…
Noam Chomsky’s hour interview on WorldStreams Radio on June 17, 2009:
http://worldstreams.org/past62.html
Text of flyer I handed out at Riverside Church on Friday June 12th:
http://representativepress.blogspot.c…
http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/steal…
http://brechtforum.org/events/crisis-…
http://tinyurl.com/IranElectionSpecul…

Kucinich: It is Time to Reevaluate our use of Force in Afghanistan

Dandelion Salad

Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Washington, Jun 22, 2009

Congressman Dennis Kucinich D-OH today made the following statement in response to General Stanley McChrystal’s decision to limit airstrikes in Afghanistan:

“General McChrystal’s decision to limit airstrikes is welcome. The collateral damage from these airstrikes has wrought human and economic tragedy. This heavy military hand has proved disastrous for the people of Afghanistan and for our mission there.

“We must reevaluate our use of force in Afghanistan, particularly with regard to the protection civilian populations. The U.S. cannot expect that ramping up military operations while failing to present an exit strategy will accomplish the stated U.S. goal of defeating extremism in the region. Afghanistan’s civilian population must be protected so that recruiting efforts by Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are not fueled by the American military presence.

“It is the people of Afghanistan who must take the reins to develop Afghanistan into the peaceful nation that the Administration envisions. Large civilian casualties and displacement like those seen in Iraq are unacceptable and only make it more difficult to ensure a peaceful future in Afghanistan. The ultimate goal in Afghanistan must be a complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops and contractors.”

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Kucinich: Made in America – War + Interview

Kucinich: We All Want To Protect Our Planet! Does The 2009 Clean Energy Act Do That?

Dandelion Salad

Updated: June 26, 2009

golcynski
June 26, 2009

June 23, 2009 C-SPAN

The battle of the sexes is still raging By Roland Michel Tremblay

By Roland Michel Tremblay
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
The Marginal
23 June, 2009

I don’t think much of women in this world. This is quite a hard statement to make, it is politically incorrect, I certainly will lose my job for stating it so clearly. However you have not heard the end of my argument yet. I don’t think much of men either. You’re all the same, you just alienate each other as you’re simply incompatible. We’re all tired of this life, we’re all tired of each other. If we could only just shut up once in a while, the battle of the sexes could finally be over.

Tired of your woman? You shouldn’t have let her out of the cupboard then. Tired of your man? Find yourself a high paying job, make sure he loses his (it should not be hard these days), install him on the sofa every morning with a baby in each arm and a remote control in the middle. I believe you will not meet much resistance. After all, it is a myth that men cannot change diapers, once they are obliged to do so by their other half.

Iran – Amnesia, Ignorance and Stupidity by Gary Sudborough

by Gary Sudborough
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted at http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/06/433020.html
24 June 2009

What is happening today in Iran is a classic example of a CIA destabilization operation and has absolutely nothing to do with democracy as many even on the so-called left believe. Iran has a lot of oil and its strategic location for US imperialism can simply not be overemphasized.

President Obama, Defending Capitalism, Not Reform By Robert S. Becker, Ph.D.

Sent to DS by the author, thanks, Robert.

By Robert S. Becker, Ph.D.
Dandelion Salad
www.beyondchron.org
June 23, 2009

Yes, We Can Change Everything – Except the Status Quo

Bemused by early booing of President Obama, my skeptical Texas friend bides his time, “letting the political dogs bark till the heat drives them indoors for a nap.” This from writer-professor Clay Reynolds, wondering if rushing to judgment reflects Obama “as a curiosity, a carnival side-show attraction drawing the worst attention from pundits, or perhaps our times are that unique.”

One barking dog is satirist Bill Maher, plagued by classic cognitive dissonance – when minds can’t reconcile conflicted or opposed beliefs. How can Obama command the media by speaking so boldly yet so far carry a small stick? “I’m glad that Obama is president,” Maher quipped, “but the ‘Audacity of Hope’ part is over. Right now, I’m hoping for a little more audacity.” Obama must “put it on the line in fights against the banks, the energy companies and the health care industry,” even copy Dubya’s smug doggedness. Bush “had a lot of bad ideas, but he pushed them through, never mind Congress, the Constitution or the Geneva Convention . . . [even] if it made him unpopular.” Funny, but off the mark: this is no reform Congress, betrayed by backward Democrats.